Chapter 177
“Aaaaaaaaaa—”
In the bottomless crack, a red "bouncy ball" bumps around in the irregular cracks, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes being thrown into the air, and sometimes falling rapidly.
The red flower on Robert's head lost its color and became as white as a piece of paper. If he were in the second dimension, there should be a miserable white ghost floating above his head:
"What is this, this, this——a new, new, new life-saving magic weapon——"
Gu Hongying wailed: "What what what wicked fellow——created these cracks——I clearly only blew up——the flower garden above my head——"
Yu Tu: "Speak less——Save some energy——"
Robert: "But this is really horrible horrible horrible--"
In the small protective shield, the three people's communication was like a seizure, with continuous trills every few words.
The protective shield absorbed most of the impact force of the collision and prevented them from getting injured. However, because they had nowhere to exert force, they were "weightless" inside the protective shield, and the collision noises around them were almost deafening, making communication difficult.
These cracks were more exaggerated than cliffs. They fell inside the protective shield for a long time without stopping. Yu Tu even suspected that they had fallen into a place deeper than the Mariana Trench.
After hitting the irregular protruding edges in the crack again, the shield carried them high up and forcefully crashed into another crack!
This new crack was not as winding as the previous one. They only hit it a dozen times before falling straight into the depths.
In the space below the crack, Damon and Olivia, who were on the verge of a fight, were both stunned.
Damon: "Did you hear any noise?"
"Don't change the subject." The cracks around them became more and more serious. Olivia walked on the cracked ground as if it were flat ground. "We haven't settled our accounts yet."
"There really is a sound!" Damon's face changed drastically, "It came from above our heads!"
Olivia was about to sneer at Damon for using such a clumsy way to divert his attention, but his highly concentrated mental power gave him a result - above their heads, in those interconnected cracks, something was falling towards them at a very fast speed.
Olivia's expression also changed. The water element condensed into flying wings behind him. He and Damon seemed to repel each other and quickly retreated to both ends. Almost at the same second when they retreated, in the dark crack above, a strange thing, with smoke and dust, and a thunderous momentum, smashed heavily to the ground!
The impact was so great that a deep pit was smashed into the cracked ground. Spider-web-like cracks were centered on the pit, cutting the fragmented ground even further.
Damon: “…”
Olivia: “…”
Neither of them had imagined that tens of thousands of meters underground, people could also suffer unknown attacks from above.
The impending war was temporarily put on hold by this sudden incident. Damon and Olivia, holding their staffs, carefully approached the pit from the north and south ends respectively.
The summoned wind took away the smoke and dust, and the "unknown creatures" in the pit revealed their true appearance, which was... a group of people.
Olivia looked at the monster with two heads and four arms entangled between two trees. There was a gray hair tumor on one of the trees. She felt that the messy head, arms, and the two trees looked familiar.
One of the crushed trees struggled to stretch out a branch, and on the branch a pale desert rose bloomed, trembling.
Olivia: “…”
It turned out that the people who dropped from the sky were his unlucky godson and that group of annoying students!
Bella, who was already clinging to his neck and almost becoming a black crow's neck, quietly poked her head out from beside his cheek: "It's Tuborowa - Tuborowa, who is so scared that he has no color -"
It is difficult to describe Olivia's current mood. He silently used a suspension magic to make the red glowing protective shield float up from the big pit and slowly fall behind him.
Finally, the endless collision and falling ended, and the "monster" began to disintegrate into two people who looked like they had concussions, two wilted saplings, and a gray ball that had fallen over.
"Wow wow wow - it's so dirty -" Bella flew up and landed on the top of the protective shield, "It's so annoying -"
After the "monster" disintegrated, Damon discovered that the seedling he thought was a new species, which Bella called Tuboro, was actually Robert! The desert rose that he was supposed to plant in the Old Court Cloud Garden!
Under his gaze, Olivia took a step to the side, blocking his line of sight. He held up a staff inlaid with gemstones, and water elements were roaring around him, condensing into a solid deep blue. There was a hint of joy in his tone: "It seems that your arrangements were quite backward, and the children escaped by themselves."
Damon gripped his dark green staff so tightly that his knuckles turned white from the effort.
He had clearly suppressed the spiritual mark of Olivia on Robert and removed all the magical tools that could be used to fight back from Robert. So how did he escape from the Cloud Garden?
The arrangement that was closest to success failed abruptly. Damon could only feel the rage in his heart growing stronger and stronger, and even the wounds from Olivia's magic attack began to hurt slightly. But soon, he revealed a strange smile, but because of the burnt hat brim, only the corners of his mouth could be seen.
"Olivia, don't you want to think about--" Damon suddenly said, "how did they get down here?"
The place where he and Olivia were was ten thousand meters underground in the Old Court, known as the "Birthplace of Nidhogg". Ten thousand meters above was the Kingdom of Mist.
Legend has it that on the day Cloud Garden is revived, the fragrance of flowers will descend to purify the Land of Mist. When Cloud Garden, the Land of Mist, and the birthplace of Nidhogg are connected, Yggdrasil will fully grow and the world will no longer end.
But normally, the Kingdom of Mist is both the connection between Cloud Garden and Nidhogg's birthplace and a barrier between them. Over the years, some people have tried to destroy the old garden, and even launched a joint attack from both sides, but all have failed.
The most they could do was severely damage the old court. As long as enough magical materials were invested, the old court could be repaired - this was a secret that even Olivia did not know.
Once the Old Court suffers a severe blow, everyone except the agents recognized by the Old Court will be trapped here and become nutrients for the Old Court's repair.
Damon thought that for Robert, who could transform into the seed of Yggdrasil, there should be little difference between taking root in Cloud Garden and sprouting from the birthplace of Nidhogg.
"Olivia, you will stay here forever." Black and gray magic patterns began to appear around Damon. His face was hidden by the brim of his hat, and leaf-like patterns flashed between his brows. Olivia's water blade flew over and only cut a piece of air. Damon's figure began to fade away ten thousand meters underground. "Goodbye, old friend."
After saying the last word, Damon disappeared instantly, as if he had never existed.
After Damon left, the cracks spreading everywhere opened faster, connecting vertically and horizontally like a net with no blind spots.
The symbol of the Agent transported Damon to Cloud Gardens, or more precisely... Cloud Ruins.
The sloping Cloud Garden had been razed to the ground. The shark-saw-like grass on the ground had disappeared, and the strangely shaped stones had turned into powder. The slender branches with bright flowers hanging from the top of the garden had been pulverized even at the roots. There was nothing within sight, only the lingering, pungent and strong smell of plants lingering in the nose.
Damon felt like his heart stopped beating at that moment.
It is true that Olivia and the others were trapped ten thousand meters underground, and the Old Court could make up for a small part of the damage after absorbing them, but the amount of materials that needed to be filled in afterwards was still a painful number.
Just as he was thinking about the heartache, the hood on Damon's head was suddenly pulled off by someone. He was startled and raised his hand to fight back, but the magic power he swung out was dissipated in the hands of the person who came.
Damon—” An accusing voice came from behind him, “Just say hello, there’s no need to use force, right?”
Di Changqing crossed his legs and seemed to be suspended in mid-air as if he was lying on an invisible sofa.
"Olivia is here to fight!" If Damon was angry about the injury he got from fighting with Olivia, his anger was about to explode when he saw Di Changqing, "Where were you when it was so dangerous! Did you take Lord Nighold's instructions to heart?"
"Why are you shouting so loudly? I'm not deaf~" Di Changqing flew away in disgust, "Old Nighold didn't ask me to guard the old court. I just came to take a look. You can't force me to do something unreasonable."
Di Zhangqing held his chin up and said with a smile: "We are equal~"
"Don't call adults by their names, use their honorifics!"
Damon wants to kill someone.
He really didn't understand why the wise, brave, omniscient and almighty Lord Nighold would arrange for him to have a colleague like Di Changqing who wanted to beat him to death ten thousand times a day.
"Okay, okay, Lord Nighold." Di Zhangqing rolled his eyes elegantly, "You are the one who asks too much, and only someone with a good temper like me can tolerate it."
Damon: “…”
He really wants to kill someone!
He was just about to have a good talk with his colleague who had come to support him and ask him not to be absent from work so often when he suddenly felt a violent vibration under his feet. No matter how badly the Old Courtyard was damaged before, the vibration would not reach the Cloud Garden.
Both of them changed their expressions at the same time.
"Damon." Di Zhangqing sat up straight, and he rarely became serious. "Besides Olivia and Robert, who else did you imprison under ten thousand meters?"
Damon didn't know either. His men had only said that the four extra people they captured all had Olivia's spiritual mark on them, and they should be the students that Olivia brought to the magic street to buy things.
The only thing he remembered was the glimpse of Olivia moving the shield behind him.
Damon recalled the scene from his memory, and then used a magic circle to project the scene in his memory into reality.
"Gu Hongying, Yu Tu, Eric, Hao Zhizhi... the extra one is Robert?" Di Changqing recognized the dusty figures in the protective shield one by one, "Did they fall from Yunduan Garden to the depths of 10,000 meters?"
Damon nodded solemnly.
"Oh, I see!" Di Zhangqing nodded, and returned to his previous lazy look, "One good news, one bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"
Damon's face darkened: "You're still keeping it a secret at this time?!"
"People should learn to find joy in adversity." Di Changqing spread his hands, "Choose."
Damon: "Good news first."
"The good news is that this time, those who are dissatisfied with the old court are quite good at choosing people." Di Changqing first pointed directly at Gu Hongying in the projected memory picture, then lowered his finger and pointed at the ground, "Every choice is accurate."
Damon: “That’s great news!”
The vibrations beneath their feet became more and more intense, so much so that Damon had to use magic to lift his feet off the ground so that he could stabilize his body in the increasingly intense vibrations.
"This is certainly good news!" Di Changqing said in a cheerful tone, "Because the selection of people is good, the old court is probably finished this time!"
"Damon--" Di Zhangqing smiled, "Your nest is gone~"